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Originally Posted by Danth
I'll disagree with you here, albeit whilst noting that "best" is subjective so a differing opinion isn't invalid or wrong. If you care solely about raw efficiency, don't bother with a traditional tank type at all and instead use a Monk as tank--you get the same unreliable threat generation as a Warrior but even better damage output. Optionally, get rid of melee entirely and just use all casters. I feel the entire point of having a tank in a typical group is to make the grouping experience as stable and easy as possible for everyone else--and at that, Warriors fail due to their wholly inadequate threat generation and lack of control. As such I don't blame folks for being hesitant to move away from easymode: Why do more work with more personal risk for only small gains? I consider that a false economy.
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I have to second this as well. I haven't played an uber geared Warrior, but have leveled a nicely geared twink Warrior into the 50s. I also leveled a much worse geared Paladin into the 50s. The Paladin was far and away the superior group tank, and it wasn't even close. Simply being able to root park adds as a tank is absurdly powerful and makes the group run much more smoothly, then add in instant/permanent threat with Blind, stuns to lock down casters, heals to reduce downtime (also DW Helm heals are no joke, especially with a Necro/Shaman in group to heal between pulls, something like 700 hp per minute mana free), and Lay On Hands to help prevent wipes/deaths (I was amazed how often this happened, usually at least once per group).
I can totally see how on paper a Warrior is the superior group tank, especially when uber geared and with bags full of clickies to help, and when grouping with other players who are skilled and understand how to play with a Warrior tank. But that's a helluva lot to ask for and get most of the time. The Paladin, in contrast, has a lot more latitude both in terms of gear requirements, class composition of group, as well as the knowledge/skill of group members.
I can't speak for the SK, never having leveled one past 20 or so, but the Paladin in my opinion is a massively underrated class on P1999. In terms of being able to leverage player skill and knowledge to aid a group, I think a good player tanking on a Paladin falls behind only the Bard and Enchanter in terms of what they can add to the group's effectiveness. It makes sense when you realize that of the four major elements of a group (heals, CC, tanking, DPS), the Paladin can make moderate to large contributions to all of them. While the Warrior basically just auto attacks, positions mobs and waits for procs, the Paladin is tanking with instant threat, rooting adds, stunning casters, healing when needed, emergency LoHing, etc... Just so many more opportunities for a skilled player to make use of his abilities.
Of course, this says nothing about a Paladin's raid role compared to the Warrior, but for pure leveling or dungeon crawling with a single group, the Paladin is really amazing.